Mind Blowing Facts: How Famous Companies Got Their Names? Nike : Named for the greek goddess of victory. The swoosh symbolises her flight. Skype : The original concept was ‘Sky-Peer-to-Peer’, which morphed into Skyper, then Skype.. Mercedes : This was actually financier’s daughter’s name. Adidas : The company name was taken from its founder Adolf (ADI) Dassler whose first name was shortened to the nickname Adi. Together with first three letters of his surname it formed ADIDAS. Adobe : This came from the name of the river Adobe Creek that ran behind the house of founder John Warnock. Apple Computers : It was the favourite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months late for filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn’t suggest a better name by 5 o’clock. CISCO : It is not an acronym as popularly believed. It’s short for San Francisco. Compaq : This name was formed by using COMP